you will go out under the cover of darkness and compromise their mission. Unknown to Admiral Torrance and all of you, there is a secret escape tunnel out of the residence bunker which leads to a generator room near the airfield. Now, I have some extremely important communications with my field units to conduct, I ask that you all remain calm and give me some uninterrupted time.”
Alex went into the communications room and contacted all of the division commanders and gave them their specific targets to liberate. He reminded them that these were Americans who had received their orders from a conspirator, and they may very well not know of the government takeover. Once that had been put in place, he teleconferenced all the site commanders at once.
“General Hanken, what on God’s green earth is going on here?” General Harlan Monroe asked.
“Is this part of the stress test?” General Paul Amos added.
“Gentlemen, let me try and answer these questions and then I have a question for all of you. No, this is not a part of the stress test; Admiral Torrance and a group of unknown conspirators, using this stress test as a cover, have seized our country. Admiral Torrance dispatched the Marines you have encountered undoubtedly early this morning shortly after the test began. These Marines may or may not have knowledge of the government seizure. Gentlemen, this country was founded with the musket and flintlock through a revolution. Once those aims had been achieved, we put down our arms and established the Constitution. We put forth the proposition that conflicts internally would be settled at the ballot box, not with bullets, that one man equaled one vote, not all votes for one man.
“All of our fellow brothers in arms who have given their lives in conflicts around the world have had their sacrifices desecrated by this action. Every American citizen has had their most cherished right stolen from him or her by thieves coming in the darkness. There can never be a valid justification for this. So I ask all of you the following question, and I want a verbal response from each and every one of you, so that all can hear your response. Are you a patriot or with Admiral Torrance?”
Beginning with General Monroe and ending with the last of the fifteen facility commanders, they all emphatically stated that they were opposed to the actions taken by Torrance.
“Very well then, I currently have airborne assault troops on their way to each of your facilities. When you’re facility is liberated, call me immediately, I will have tactical orders for you. Are there any questions?”
“Yes General, did you have a suspicion about this?” General Monroe asked.
“No, I simply did what any good field general would do, if headquarters is vacant of command staff, you create backup plans in the event of a surprise attack. I will tell you this; the majority of you will go back to your former base and take over as the base commander. Gentlemen, we are going to have to change missions nearly on the run, we must be ready to respond quickly and decisively. Any more questions?”
“No, just a comment, thank God you are on our team.”
“I look forward to hearing from all of you soon,” Alex concluded the call.
The phone call came twenty minutes after the broadcast finished. Sandi met Alex as he walked toward her, a look of consternation on her face.
“Alex, its Admiral Torrance and he says he hopes you will at least hear him out.”
“All right, I’ll take it in here, what line?”
“Line three.”
“Admiral.”
“Alex, don’t say anything, just hear me out.”
Alex had recovered, but the words just wouldn’t come easily right now.
“First,” Torrance said, “I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you in on the truth. It was necessary that you believe in what you were doing in order for it to work.”
“Admiral, believe me, being kept in the dark is the least of my problems right now.”
“Okay, but…Alex, you’ve seen what’s been happening to this country for the last ten years. Between the greed on Wall Street, the corruption in Congress and the polarization of the electorate, the greatest country in the world was being torn apart at the seams. Our elected officials are incapable of stopping it, and as a patriot, I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”
“So instead you dismantled more than two centuries of continuous democratic tradition—
“Oh, Alex, that’s bullshit. Those democratic traditions almost blew up once before, in the Civil War, and the country reassembled itself into something new and better afterwards. That’s what I’m hoping will happen now. And I’m hoping you’ll join us to help make it happen. We could use a smart, well-organized, loyal man like you.”
Alex rubbed his temples. He could feel a massive headache coming on. “Admiral—Evan—I am loyal, but I’m loyal to the Constitution, to the government it sets up that answers to the people. Not to a bunch of powerful…oligarchs who think they know what’s best for the nation.”
“But these people do know what’s best, Alex. Just look at our recent history. Look at the past ten years, even the past twenty. And look where the country is going. We will be able to restart those institutions eventually. We need to fix a few things first. Besides, what’s the alternative?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Right now, we’ve managed to take over the government without the loss of a single American life. All those elected officials you support so strongly are safely, happily tucked away. They don’t even know what’s happening. But if you try to stop us, we will fight you and innocent people will die. I’m hoping you won’t oppose us and we can find a way to work together.”
“Admiral you misjudged me, on several levels. The people behind you will be found out and exposed for what they really are. Evan you’ve left me no choice,” Alex hung up.
Alex turned to find his closest people anxiously listening to the conversation. He told them to have a seat in the dining room and asked the kitchen staff to prepare a dinner meal immediately. While they were waiting on dinner Alex explained what he was going to do, when he was going to do it, and how he was going to do it. Sandi for her part mentioned that she hoped there wouldn’t be bloodshed; the Marines looked to be so young and they may not even know what has gone on. The Seal Team leader spoke up.
“We will take extra care not to harm the Marines, we may have to put a few knots on their heads, but we will do everything in our power to bring this to a peaceful conclusion.”
During dinner Alex told Curt he needed him to constantly monitor the command center. He could not afford to lose control of the nuclear weapons centers, he needed real time information. Alex asked Sandi, Cynthia, and Liz to inventory food and supplies in the residence. He asked FBI agents Evans and Somers to accompany Curt to the communications center and try and establish contact with FBI headquarters. He wanted to find out where the agency stood on this takeover.
Dinner was nervously quiet, the anxiety on everyone’s part hung in the air. Liz couldn’t eat, agent Evans bit into his fork with every bite, Sandi sat with her head in her hands, Cynthia was close to hyperventilating and all Curt could do was shake his head back and forth and try to console Cynthia. Alex watched as the scene unfolded before him, his anger at Torrance grew as he surveyed the effects it was having on his loved ones. After dinner, he asked the
